Campus Crime Act Makes it Tougher For Schools to Withhold Crime Stats

The way in which colleges and universities nationwide deal with campus
crime statistics and freedom of information may change significantly under
a new federal education law.

On Oct. 7, President Clinton signed the Higher Education Amendment Act
of 1998. Although the act deals mostly with student financial aid, the
Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime
Statistics Act is an amendment to the main act which concerns security
policy for colleges and universities.

The law affects the reporting of campus crime statistics, requires an
open campus police log, gives schools more freedom over the release of
student disciplinary records, and aims to help curb violence against women
and binge drinking.

Statistical reporting revamped

The new law will primarily affect how schools compile and categorize
their crime statistics.

"Now [the schools] have to provide a type of classification. It's giving
the person a total sense of the environment that they're in and that's
important. People don't just go from their dorm to class," said Myra
Codner, Administrative Assistant at Security On Campus Inc., a non-profit
organization geared to the prevention of college and university campus
violence and other crimes.

Statistics on all crime will be divided into four categories: on campus,
non-campus, public property, and residential facilities for students.

Fraternities, sororities, and all other living groups associated with
the school are considered as on-campus. Property owned by a school but
managed by a third party, such as food courts, and public property adjacent
to school property, such as streets and sidewalks running through and near
the campus, are defined as non-campus.

Although the Campus Police already reports crimes occurring on public
property adjacent to campus in its annual report, it will now have to
report those statistics in the federal law compliance document, according
to Chief of Campus Police Anne P. Glavin.

Manslaughter and arson are added to the list of annually required
statistical disclosures. Hate crimes are required to be divided into
"categor[ies] of prejudice."

The CPs already report hate crimes, but now "we must show the community
the breakdown [of the crimes] as far as religious, gender, whatever the
case may be," Glavin said.

Schools will also be required to maintain a public police log of all
crimes. Logs of campus crime must be made available to the public within
two days of the initial report and must include the date, time, location,
and nature of the crime.

"We were doing that before it was even state law," Glavin said.
Massachusetts law has required open campus police logs for at least a
decade.

Student records more accessible

Survivors of nonforcible sex offenses will be included in the group of
victims which are allowed to be informed of the outcome of student
disciplinary hearings. The Family Education Right to Privacy Act, which
governs the access to educational records, now permits the disclosure of
the results of disciplinary hearings involving violent crime or nonforcible
sex-offenses.

However, the only name that can be released is the name of the accused
and the law states that the school is under no obligation to release this
information.

According to Margaret R. Bates, dean for student life, the Institute
probably will not alter its current policy, which keeps all disciplinary
records confidential.

"We certainly won't [make any changes to the policy] without a full a
full review of the implications," Bates said.

Funds available for schools

The act also allocated funds to be used to reduce violence against women
and binge drinking. The Department of Justice will distribute $10 million
during the 1999 fiscal year for combatting violence against women. An
additional $1 million is earmarked for a study on how colleges respond to
complaints of sexual assault. Campaigns against binge drinking will receive
$5 million in federal funds.

Bates said that, since MIT already has programs dealing with both
issues, "we hope that we would be in a strong position to apply for
funds."

Compliance with the act is required of all schools whose students
receive federal student aid. The Department of Education is responsible for
reporting all schools who fail to comply to Congress. The law took effect
on the day of its signing.

"Unfortunately, the Department [of Education] has yet to demonstrate any
inclination to get tough on schools that hide campus crime. I hope that
this Congressional encouragement will provide an opportunity for the
Department [of Education ] to demonstrate that it is no longer the lap dog
of those college administrators more concerned about their school's image
than the safety of their students," said Mark Goodman, executive director
of the Student Press Law Center.

Jeanne Clery, for whom the act is named, was brutally raped, beaten, and
murdered by another student that she didn't know in her dormitory room at
Lehigh University in the early morning hours of April 5, 1986.

CP logs have had problems

Last spring, The Tech discovered omissions in the CP crime
summaries for the past five years. Reports of crimes in off-campus
fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups, including two
rapes, were missing from the reports, but they were required to be included
by existing federal law. The discrepancy was discovered when The
Tech requested statistics on the FSILGs directly from the Boston Police
Department.

As a result, the CPs pledged to publish semi-annual reports of crime in
off-campus FSILGs. They also worked with Boston Police to gain better
statistics as required by law.